To Those I've Loved Before
by Ecchi-sama
Summary: Goodbye," he murmured as he turned to look at his 'birthday cake'. "Goodbye, Kain."


"Ojii-san! We're gonna be late!"

A large knowing smile split a face that had just began to wrinkle. "Yes, Kain, I'm almost ready."

The girl pouted in response. "We need to hurry! Or else everyone will go to sleep and I won't get any candy!"

This time the old man laughed and placed one of his hands atop the girl's head. "I will only be a moment longer."

And with that, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and walked into his office, closing the large oak doors behind him.

The child watched the door for several moments, as if waiting for the man to return immediately. When he didn't, she began to walk down the hallway, her jack-o-lantern bucket in one hand and a large red flashlight in the other.

She wandered through the large building. After a while, she had realized that this was the first time she had walked through the halls on her own, for the man she called her grandfather had feared she would lose her way. The thought of adventuring alone excited her. She flicked on her flashlight and continued on with great enthusiasm.

It was good 10 minutes before she figured that she was in a part of the house she had never been in before. The hallway seemed narrower than she remembered and as she continued on, the place just got a bit more foreign.

Eventually, she came to a large open room that resembled the foyer that lead to the front lawn, but instead of a grand door, there were several other hallways, each appearing to lead to a dark, desolate place.

The girl looked down each corridor carefully. She wasn't quite sure which way she should go. Just as she was about to move forward, she could hear a small shuffling noise coming from the hall across the way. She turned off her flashlight and froze, as if she were hiding from a carnivorous predator that was more than willing to devour her.

As the shuffling became louder, her heart beat harder until the shuffling ceased and the shadow of another being not much larger than her appeared at the mouth of the passage. Its head seemed to look one way and then another before turning into another corridor and shuffled along.

She watched as the shadow made its way further into the passage when it suddenly stopped, opened a door to its left, entered, and closed it. She continued to stare in disbelief. After a moment, she took an unsure step forward.

Suddenly, there was the echo of brisk footsteps coming her way. Out of instinct, the girl ran towards the direction of the shadow. She held onto the left wall unto she felt the cold knob of the hidden door.

She turned it quickly and slammed the door behind her. She closed her eyes and tried her best to steady her breath. She had a very strange feeling rush through her as she stood there. Slowly, she opened her eyes to find a boy of about her age watching her intently.

He was seated, albeit in a strange way, in a tall wooden chair next to an equally tall desk. His legs, which were held close to his body, were clothed with loose blue jeans. On his torso was a white long sleeved shirt with large, multicolored stains at the wrists. His jet black hair was messy and hid his dark, mysterious eyes.

They stared at each other for another moment before the boy appeared to get impatient and spoke.

"What are you doing here?" he inquired in a rather rude tone. The girl furrowed her brows as she answered. "I'm waiting for Oji-san so that we can go trick-or-treating."

The boy blinked. "What is 'oogey sand'?"

"_Oji-san,_" she corrected him. "It means grandfather in Japanese."

Again, the boy blinked. "Why would you call your grandfather Oji-san in Japanese if you speak English?"

The girl jumped back a bit in shock. "How rude!" she protested. "It's because I'm half Japanese!"

The boy watched her a moment longer before turning towards the desk. He reached up and pulled down a plate that had been piled with sweets. The girl wrinkled her nose in disgust. Noticing, the boy commented.

"Don't make that face." He picked up a donut hole and shoved it in his mouth. "You haf jur Yapaines an' I gotz mah sveetz."

This time the girl giggled as she walked over to him. "That's gross!"

She put down her flashlight and basket as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "You're face is so dirty!" She wiped his face without a moment's hesitation. He watched her in disbelief as she finished.

Again, they both went quiet. The girl looked around the room. It was very large, and had only a twin size bed and the desk and chair with which the boy was seated at.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

The girl turned to the boy to find him staring at her body. She too looked down at her costume.

"It's my Halloween costume, silly!"

The boy blinked. "Halloween? What's that?"

"You don't know what Halloween is?" the girl squealed in disbelief. The boy shook his head 'no' as the girl began to explain. "It's only the greatest holiday in the history of holidays!" The boy watched her closely as she explained the great joys of the frightening holiday. She told him about the tradition of getting dressed up as whatever one wanted and how anyone would give you free candy. She even told him how different cultures celebrated similar holidays where people dressed up to celebrate the lives of those who had lost their lives and how she wished she could visit the world just to witness such events.

When she was finished, the girl sat down on the bed and sighed. "I love Halloween almost as much as my own birthday."

At this, the boy fidgeted a bit in his chair. The girl watched him as he took another sweet from his buffet of cavities.

"I've never celebrated my birthday either," the boy whispered.

"WHAT!?"

The boy jumped, causing him to fall out of his chair as the girl stood up from the bed and rushed over to him.

"You've never had a birthday party?!"

The boy shook his head 'no'.

The girl balled her fists and placed them on her hips. She angrily marched over to her jack-o-lantern basket and took something out. She hid it in her pocket before the boy could see what it was and went back over to him. She picked up her flashlight and climbed up into the chair.

She looked through his plate of desserts for a moment. Finally, she grabbed a large donut and secluded it from the rest of the foods.

"What are you…"

"Shush!"

The boy raised an eyebrow as he approached her. She turned on her flashlight and stuck it upright within the hole of the donut. She then climbed down and, with her hands, motioned for him to get back on the chair. He willingly obeyed and looked at the donut. It looked ridiculous; a donut that was no bigger than his face with a flashlight that could easily replace his spine sticking out of it. He looked down at her in disbelief, while she looked back up at him with a kind smile on her face. He could feel something in his chest pop and, for a moment, was afraid that his heart had popped and that he would be dead in a matter of seconds. When he continued to stay still and found that he was alive, he looked back at the donut.

"Well?" she inquired, "Blow out the candle!"

She giggled as he blew on the flashlight. As he did this, she reached up and turned it off. She clapped happily and reached into her pocket. He watched her hand closely as she pulled out a big red apple.

"Happy Birthday!" she cried. He looked down at the apple.

"What is it?"

She blinked at him. "It's an apple, of course!"

"I know that," the boy huffed, "I mean, what is it for?"

The girl smiled up at him again. "It's your birthday present."

The boy slowly took it. "Thank you…"

He rolled the apple around in his hands. He had never been given a present before. His eyes moved up slowly to look at the girl. She was watching the apple in his hands very closely, as if she expected a genie to pop out and grant her three wishes.

He felt something in his chest pop again. What was this feeling? It was nice, but it was really weird. He took a bite out of the apple. To his surprise, it was rather crisp and sweet.

:"So, how is it?" she asked excitedly. He took another bite and offered to her.

"It's delicious."

She looked from him to the apple. She held the apple closer to her face and took a bite. She smiled up at him as she chewed on it.

He smiled at her then too. He knew there was something about this girl that he really liked. He needed to know more about her.

"So, what is your-"

"L," said a voice as the door opened quickly to reveal a man with a frightened look on his face.

Both the girl and boy looked up at the man as his face froze then softened at the sight of the both of them.

"Oji-san!" the girl cried happily as she ran into the man's open arms.

He hugged her tightly as she giggled in his ear, "You made me worry, Kain."

The boy watched them as they conversed.

"I told you I would only take a minute," the man whispered to the girl. He suddenly looked up at the boy and nodded. "Thank you for watching her, L."

The boy nodded.

"L?" the girl questioned, turning to look at the boy. "Is that your name?"

He nodded lightly as he looked back up at the man. "You can leave now, Watari."

The man bowed slightly as he walked towards the door.

"Wait!" the girl cried. Watari looked down at her, "What's the matter, Kain?"

She looked from the man to L with a sad and slightly confused look.

"Why can't L come with us?"

The room went dead silent as the girl waited for her answer.

"I don't have a costume," the boy finally replied. Kain turned to him. "I won't get candy if I go out there like this."

Kain paused and thought about it as she watched L's emotionless face. After a moment, she smiled.

"Okay…"

And with that, Watari and Kain left the room, holding each other's hands. L watched the door as he heard their footsteps slowly fade away.

"Goodbye," he mumbled, turning to his 'birthday cake'.

"Goodbye, Kain."

00000000000

How long had it been since that night? It was over 20 years ago. Exactly 24 years, 3 hours, 42 minutes, and 7 seconds ago was when that girl first came into his life. Now here he sat. Alone and slightly cold.

He looked over at his desk. The package was still sitting there. He was slightly afraid to open it to be completely honest with himself. It had come, so unexpectedly. But, what if it wasn't dangerous? What if, in fact, it was something sweet and delicious.

L slowly made his way to the desk where a neat red package sat atop his desk. He reached for the orange ribbon that held it together but hesitated suddenly. He tried to figure out the probabilty of it being rigged with some life-threatening device. 15%. It was 15% likely that if he opened this box, it would kill him. But with such slim chances, why NOT open it?

He took a deep breathe and pulled on the ribbon slowly. It slithered off the box. He slowly clipped his thumbnail under the lid and lifted it off. Inside was a brilliant little cake with orange icing. It was adorned with adorable jack-o-lantern plastic decorations that were set precisely around the edge of the cake. At the center of the cake was a messege in black icing.

"Happy Birthday! Love, K"

L smiled down at the cake and took a dab of icing off with his finger. His eyes widened a bit in shock. The icing had a peculiar taste of apple.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this little fic. I wanted to do a tribute to our beloved L for his 30th Birthday. So anyway, thanks for reading!

愛 Ecchi


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